Flutter (animated short)
Encyclopedia
Flutter is a 2006 anime
-style animated short by Howie Shia, co-produced by PPF House and the National Film Board of Canada
.
and a Jury Award from the Golden Sheaf Awards.
, was in Montreal
when he was approached by NFB producer Michael Fukushima and asked if he had any ideas he wanted to present. He offered a few ideas before remembering some earlier art work he had done of a "kid with wings on his feet" while working with the NFB on his first project, a 30-second short Ice Ages. This artwork became the inspiration for Flutter.
Flutter is animated in black and white. It took Shia and his team 10 months to complete and was animated using Photoshop, which the filmmaker used because of his unfamiliarity with animation software at the time, and because he wanted the film to "look as hand-drawn and gritty as possible."
Several people who had grown up with Shia in Saskatoon
worked on Flutter, including his brothers Leo and Tim, who played music for the film, and friends Kelly Sommerfield (background art
) and Ryan Patterson (sound engineering).
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
-style animated short by Howie Shia, co-produced by PPF House and the National Film Board of Canada
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada is Canada's twelve-time Academy Award-winning public film producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary, animation, alternative drama and digital media productions...
.
Awards
Flutter received the Open Entries Grand Prize at the Tokyo Anime Awards — the first work from a non-Asian country to win this award. Flutter also received the award for best Quebec short feature at the Fantasia FestivalFantasia Festival
Fantasia International Film Festival is a genre film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996...
and a Jury Award from the Golden Sheaf Awards.
Plot
A film without words, a boy and a girl must abandon their friendship to pursue their dreams. In this short animation, a young boy takes a flying leap away from normal, waves goodbye to his classmates, and disappears into the cityscape and beyond. At the same time, a young girl is inspired to reinvent her space with art.Production
Shia, who grew up in SaskatchewanSaskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
, was in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
when he was approached by NFB producer Michael Fukushima and asked if he had any ideas he wanted to present. He offered a few ideas before remembering some earlier art work he had done of a "kid with wings on his feet" while working with the NFB on his first project, a 30-second short Ice Ages. This artwork became the inspiration for Flutter.
Flutter is animated in black and white. It took Shia and his team 10 months to complete and was animated using Photoshop, which the filmmaker used because of his unfamiliarity with animation software at the time, and because he wanted the film to "look as hand-drawn and gritty as possible."
Several people who had grown up with Shia in Saskatoon
Saskatoon
Saskatoon is a city in central Saskatchewan, Canada, on the South Saskatchewan River. Residents of the city of Saskatoon are called Saskatonians. The city is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Corman Park No. 344....
worked on Flutter, including his brothers Leo and Tim, who played music for the film, and friends Kelly Sommerfield (background art
Background artist
A background artist or sometimes called a background stylist or background painter is one who is involved in the process of animation who establishes the color, style, and mood of a scene drawn by an animation layout artist. The methods used can either be through traditional painting or by digital...
) and Ryan Patterson (sound engineering).
External links
- Watch Flutter at NFB.ca
- Filmmaker's website for Flutter, includes development artwork and deleted scenes